LONDON (Reuters) – Nearly 20,000 other doses of COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, were given to people in England before the guidelines were changed to give priority to giving the first doses, the National Health Service said on Thursday.
The data showed that from December 29 to January 3, 19,981 second vaccinations were given out of a total of 1.1 million received in England. 1.3 million doses have been distributed throughout the United Kingdom.
The day after other vaccinations began, health officials said they would give preference to as many people as possible with the first injection of the COVID-19 vaccine to provide some protection due to the introduction of additional injections.
This means that other recordings will now be given up to 12 weeks after people receive the first recordings, which will cause criticism from some scientists and frustration from people who saw that the meetings were canceled.
Although the AstraZeneca bullet was tested at different intervals between doses, Pfizer said there was no data to show the effectiveness of its first dose after 21 days.
On Tuesday, the English medical director said that the balance of risks supports that move, adding that the protection from one dose will probably be higher than 50%, even if it represents a small risk of a “mutant on the run” from the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes that by providing at least some protection to more than 13 million people in priority groups over the next six weeks, it will be possible to consider easing austerity measures from mid-February.
Reported by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden
Source link
